Buildings of Bute Street in Cardiff Bay

In The Balance – a bronze by J A Stevenson on the front of the Old NatWest Building in Bute Street, Cardiff Bay

I try to post about subjects other than nature occasionally, but I am finding I have so little spare time these days! However, I have no excuse for ignoring the architecture when I pass so many interesting buildings most days as I walk over to Cardiff Bay for my lunchtime sandwich.

My walk usually takes me along the southern end of Bute Street, now rather run-down but with hopes of regeneration.

Bute Street is rather run down these days

Parallel to the modern Lloyd George Avenue (which I wrote about here), Bute Street joins the city centre with Cardiff Bay.

According to Wikipedia, Bute Street was built on meadow and marshland called Soudrey, the Cardiff south moors. In the 1820s the 2nd Marquess of Bute decided the Glamorganshire Canal could not cope with the demands of the iron trade and built Bute Street as a main road into and out of the docks. It was completed in 1830. I am unsure if any of the remaining buildings date from that time.

The Packet at the south end of Bute Street, near Mermaid Quay

The Packet is an old pub at the bottom of Bute Street, opened in 1864 and named after the packet ships that carried mail to and from British outposts. It was originally a hotel for visiting sailors and allegedly if a sailor was there when the tide was out he was given free lodging for the night.

The junction of Bute Street and Bute Place

Several of the old buildings are being redeveloped, but progress is slow. At the junction of Bute Street and Bute Place there are plans to develop Merchant House and the Cory’s Buildings into (I assume luxury) apartments. It has been reported that developers Skyview Estates will receive loans of £6m to fund the work, £5m from the Development Bank of Wales and £1m from the Welsh Government’s Town Centre Loans fund.

Merchant House, built around 1880 on Bute Place was formerly a Post Office on the ground floor with offices above – it could be converted into apartments

Advertising future glory…

Cory’s building was constructed in 1889 for Cory Brothers & Co. The brothers were John Cory (1828–1910) and Richard Cory (1830–1914), whose family came from Devon. Their business included ship’s chandlery, brokerage and the sale and export of coal. They also owned several collieries in Wales and became the largest private wagon-owners in the United Kingdom, with more than 5,000 wagons. The company still exists (see here).

Cory’s Building

More signs of development

There are many faces on the facade of Cory’s Building and I wonder if they are based on real people, maybe members of the Cory family?

A face on every pillar…

A stone face…

…and another…

…note the angry birds and cornucopias…

…leafy hair…

…a female?

Shame about the broken nose!

Another great building, of a very different design, is the Old NatWest Building at 113-116 Bute Street, also sometimes called Portland House. It is now used for weddings and as a film venue (read more here).

The Old NatWest Building at 113-116 Bute Street

The National Provincial Bank (as the NatWest used to be known) was built in 1927 by architects FCR Palmer and WFC Holden on a site originally developed in about 1847 as a terrace of four houses, but these were demolished to make way for the present building.

This was the highest structure of any size in Cardiff Docks at the time and as the ground was former marshland it was necessary to go down to a depth of 35-40ft before proper foundations could be reached.

It’s still the tallest building by far in the street

Doric columns along the front of the Old NatWest Building

The building is in Neo-Classical style with a steel-framed structure faced in Portland stone on Cornish Granite Plinths. It had the main banking hall on the ground floor (with vaults in the basement) and offices on the four upper floors.

My favourite feature is the bronze figure over the entrance. This is called In The Balance by J A Stevenson. It represents Equity holding a balance in ancient Greek style. Until I realised this was a bank I thought the head represented a human soul being weighed up but now I understand the head of Mercury was once used as a standard of weight.

In The Balance

There is another such figure above the other entrance to the building in West Bute Street, but this has lost its Mercury head.

Next to the Old NatWest Bank Building is 117-120 Bute Street (read more here). This was previously the Docks Non-Political Club and the Baltimore Hotel but has been converted into office space.

The windows of 117-120 Bute Street…

…with fruity garlands

Dock Chambers, 4-5 Bute Street

Dock Chambers were probably built around 1860 by the Bute estate so may have been designed by Alexander Roos, the estate architect. They are said to have been the first purpose-built group of offices in Butetown.

This is a three-storey block with Classical and French Renaissance influences, as well as Dutch gables. The construction is of red brick trimmed with Bath stone.

I find this particularly French-looking

A closer look…

…and another stone face

Next to Dock Chambers is Pascoe House, built in 1875 by local architect W D Blessley as offices of Powell Duffryn Coal Co and extended in 1906. It stands at the junction of Bute Street and West Bute Street.

Pascoe House

The building has Gothic and Italian Renaissance elements and I particularly like the polychrome arches over the windows.

Colourful brick arches over the ground-floor windows…

…first-floor windows are different

Finally there are now definite signs of development for the old Cardiff Bay railway station, just across the road to the north of Pascoe House.

The old station last December

According to Wikipedia the railway line to the docks was opened in 1840 but the station was not mentioned in timetables until late 1844. It began life as “Cardiff Bute Dock” but the name was changed to “Cardiff Docks” in 1845 by the Taff Vale Railway, whose engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The building was head office of the TVR until 1862. After this it also housed the consulates of the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal and Brazil, with separate flag poles provided for each nation.

It was renamed “Cardiff Bute Road” by the Great Western Railway in 1924 and given its present name of “Cardiff Bay” in 1994.

The building was restored in the 1980s and became a railway museum for a while until it relocated to the Vale of Glamorgan in 1997.

The station today, in the middle of refurbishment works

The latest plans for the building will make it home to 23 short-term office units, with a cafe/cocktail bar in the grounds that will host street food outlets. The building will be renamed Platform. The railway station itself will be relocated.

A different view

So it’s all change for both the railway station and the rest of Bute Street in Cardiff Bay, or as it was sometimes called, Tiger Bay…